South Africans prefer to use their bank’s mobile app rather than other interactions such as in-branch or phone contact, according to a new survey.
Respondents to a Avaya survey said they prefer a digital approach to basic banking over any direct contact with bank staff, according to ITNewsAfrica.
Nine countries from around the globe were surveyed in the Customer Experience in Banking Survey, conducted with YouGov, which included over 10,000 banking customers in South Africa, the U.K., United Arab Emirates, India, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, and Saudi Arabia.
South Africans admitted that they preferred to use a mobile banking app to access their banking services, while it was also revealed that they are the second most satisfied nation in terms of the service of their banks.
South African respondents chose to contact their bank via a mobile app as their preferred option, with 30 percent choosing that avenue, compared with 26 percent in India, 24 percent in the United Arab Emirates, 10 percent in France and eight percent in Germany, according to Businesstech.
Online banking was the second choice for South Africans wanting to contact their bank, with 26 percent selection that channel, while 18 percent would rather visit their branch.
South African respondents reported the second-highest satisfaction levels with regards to their banks, recorded at 89 percent, with only India higher at 93 percent, according to Datawebafrica.
South Africa’s big five banks, ABSA, Nedbank, Capitec, First National Bank and Standard Bank, have been working hard to develop mobile apps that cater to the needs of their customers.
First National Bank recently made the decision to zero-rate their mobile app on all South African networks, meaning that users can access the mobile app without using their data, enjoying free app services while on all networks including Vodacom, MTN and Cell C.
Capitec was one of the 10 most downloaded Android apps in South Africa, displaying the popularity of mobile apps as a means to contact banks in the country, according to World Wide Worx.
The Capitec Bank app was the ninth most downloaded app in South Africa, making it the most downloaded banking app for Android, topping traditional digital powerhouse bank First National Bank in the process.
